Brow Trends Over Time

What’s going on in fashion trends? Brows and lashes.

It doesn’t matter where, it doesn’t matter when. Brows, lashes, and what you are doing with them will always be a matter of conversation.

But at the end of the day all styles will change. Procedures change. “The Look” of today is the fashion faux pas of tomorrow. Like a giant wheel, eventually everything comes back around again, but what damage are you doing to yourself in the meantime?

The world is still recovering from the “thin brows” fad of the 1990s followed by the “almost as thin, but definitely sharp” fad of the 2010s. Millions of fashion conscious people plucked their eyebrows into oblivion over the course of those trends. Many of them sustained permanent damage from overplucking. And now that the pendulum has swung, and those same people are forced to paint them on daily to stay up with the now newest trends. 

This has led to a “tattoo on” your eyebrows trend (lets not call it a fad), and we’re not hating on anyone for doing this, but what’s going to happen when the fashion changes yet again, as we know that it will?

Plucking eyebrows can have particularly damaging consequences (and yes, we are looking at you, threading, which pulls brow hairs free of the skin).

This gets back to the core of the Skin Actives position on beauty, which is that you should live by the Golden Mean. Some is fine, but beware too much of anything. And knowing when is too much can be very hard to see through the subjective lens of your own experiences.

What Does KGF Do for Brow and Lash Health?

It can feel like you need a degree in biochemistry just exploring the difference between peptides, proteins, and growth factors. Fortunately, you have our founder, Dr. Hannah Sivak to help you sort it all out along the way.

Hannah: “KGF is the crucial growth factor. This is the signal used by our bodies to tell the cells capable of making hair to do so. Hair is made of protein, and proteins are made of amino acids. To support hair growth you need amino acids, plus the enzymes and proteins capable of creating hair proteins. In addition to these crucial nutrients, you’ll need minerals used by those important enzymes and the vitamins our bodies can't make. In our serum, we also include botanical extracts known to promote hair formation, caffeine, and antioxidants.” 

It’s important to remember that KGF is naturally occurring, it’s part of your body already. Your digestive system, through which you receive the vast majority of the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that you use to survive via food, already deprioritizes chemicals sent to the skin. Additionally, your body loses a percentage of its cell renewal every year after your development peaks in your early 20s. 

Combined, these two forces mean that some cells become dormant. They don’t die, or cease to exist, but they sort of shut down, waiting for the chemical signal to begin working again. KGF does just that. In a cell that is alive and available to produce a hair follicle, KGF sends the message to begin that work. Because this is a natural process already supported by your body’s own chemistry, this means KGF is not a drug, or some concoction, but a necessary element of your skin’s health.

What’s important to remember at this point is that this is a reaction that is happening at the cellular level inside your skin’s follicles. That means that serums containing KGF need to come in contact with your skin in order to work. This is just as true of KGF for brows and lashes as it is for the KGF products we formulate for the scalp. In order for these serums to work, they must come in contact with the skin in the area where hair grows.

Keeping Your Brows Healthy

If you’re already at the point where you feel like you may have damaged your brows, or you are looking to maximize your brow health for the future, Skin Actives has some options for you. Below you will find some of our favorite products containing KGF and ingredients for brow and lash health.

Redness Reduction Serum - This serum is quickly becoming a fan-favorite for it’s irritation fighting power! If you are experiencing irritation post brow treatment, a small amount of Redness Reduction Serum can go a long way to calming inflamed skin. Formulated with both soothing ingredients and actives to stimulate collagen production, it’s perfect for getting your brows back on track quickly.

Brow and Lash Serum - Formulated at the beginning of the current “thick brows” trend, our Brow and Lash Serum remains a classic and a favorite. The power of Keratinocyte Growth Factor (KGF) means long term, sustainable, hair renewal without a prescription or concern for side-effects. 

Brow and Lash Serum with ROS BioNet™ and Apocynin - All the hair rejuvenating power of KGF with the additional antioxidant punch of our patented antioxidant blend ROS BioNet, and super-antioxidant, Apocynin. Scour the antioxidants that might be lurking in follicles where your hair grows!

Soap Brows and Today’s Trends

Now the latest trend is feathered soap brows and gelled eyebrows. Eyebrow gels are made with many of the same ingredients as mascara, which are not good for your hair or for the skin underneath. We’ll have to wait and see what the long term effects of these new techniques are, but if you decide to go ahead and use them, apply your Skin Active Brow and Lash Serum first, wait for it to dry, and then proceed. Of these two latest trends feathered soap brows is probably the least problematic in the long term, as the setting mist that gives them their hold is no more occlusive and damaging than the make-up you are wearing. Just be sure not to overdo it in search of the perfect styling. There is only so much your brows can take!

Thanks for joining us here at the Skin Actives blog. Be sure to check back often for new posts. If you’d like to hear more from Dr. Sivak herself, check out her personal blog here.